MarketAxess Reports Strong Growth Across Strategic Trading Channels, Driven by Block and Portfolio Trading Expansion
MarketAxess has reported a robust performance for October 2025, with notable growth across several of its strategic trading channels and asset classes. The company continues to advance its role as a leader in electronic fixed-income trading by deepening its presence in both institutional block trading and portfolio trading workflows. This growth reflects broader trends in the market toward increased electronic execution, automation, and multi-asset integration, particularly in the U.S. credit, emerging markets, and eurobond spaces.
One of the core highlights of the month was the 21% year-over-year growth in block trading average daily volume (ADV). This strength was broad-based, with particularly strong increases in U.S. credit block trading (+20%), emerging markets block trading (+22%), and eurobonds block trading (+16%). These gains reflect an ongoing structural shift toward electronic block execution, especially among large asset managers who are increasingly seeking efficient ways to execute sizable orders in fragmented markets. MarketAxess reported that its cumulative trading volume from its targeted block trading solution has now reached approximately $12 billion, underscoring the platform’s rising importance in high-value institutional workflows.
Strong Momentum in Portfolio Trading
Portfolio trading continued to be another key area of growth for MarketAxess. Total portfolio trading ADV increased 25% year-over-year, reaching $1.5 billion in October. U.S. credit portfolio trading experienced especially strong growth, rising 35% compared to the same period last year. This expansion helped MarketAxess capture a 20.9% estimated market share of U.S. credit portfolio trading, up substantially from 17.9% in the prior year.
The growth in portfolio trading highlights the increasing adoption of basket-based execution strategies, particularly in the investment-grade and high-yield segments, where asset managers seek speed, efficiency, and pricing consistency for multi-security transactions. Portfolio trading has become a critical tool for managing liquidity in an environment where credit market depth remains uneven across issuers and ratings categories.
Dealer-Initiated Trading Channel Growth
MarketAxess also saw meaningful expansion in its dealer-initiated trading channel, which includes Dealer RFQ (DRFQ) and Mid-X session-based execution mechanisms. Dealer-initiated ADV increased 22% year-over-year to $1.8 billion. Growth was fueled particularly by increased Mid-X activity in eurobonds, as well as the recent addition of Mid-X for U.S. credit trading. These execution models provide dealers with enhanced flexibility in managing risk and liquidity provisioning, a dynamic that has proven especially valuable during periods of market volatility.
Fee Per Million (FPM) Trends Reflect Product Mix Effects
The company also provided an update on October 2025 Variable Transaction Fees Per Million (FPM).
- Total credit FPM was $140, unchanged from September 2025, but down from $154 in the prior year period.
- Total rates FPM was $4.28, slightly down from both September 2025 and the year prior.
MarketAxess noted that the decline in credit FPM was driven primarily by protocol mix, meaning clients shifted more trading to lower-fee execution methods such as portfolio trading and Mid-X matching sessions. Meanwhile, the decline in rates FPM reflected product mix differences, including lower volumes in higher-fee segments.
Credit and Rates Volume Details
MarketAxess provided detailed ADV statistics across multiple product categories:
| Product Category | Oct 2025 ADV ($M) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. High-Grade (excl. SD PT) | 7,042 | +2% |
| U.S. High-Yield (excl. SD PT) | 1,629 | +9% |
| Emerging Markets | 4,230 | +14% |
| Eurobonds | 2,486 | +7% |
| Municipal Bonds | 612 | +6% |
| Total Credit ADV (excl. SD PT) | 15,999 | +7% |
| U.S. Government Bonds | 23,295 | -22% |
| Total Rates ADV | 24,019 | -23% |
On the credit side, the platform showed widespread growth. U.S. high-yield saw especially strong volume acceleration, both with and without single-dealer portfolio trading included. Emerging markets continued to be one of the strongest-performing categories overall, helped by rising institutional demand for diversified fixed-income exposure and the ongoing digitization of historically manual trading workflows.
On the other hand, rates trading volumes moderated year-over-year. U.S. government bond ADV declined 22%, reflecting broader market conditions, reduced volatility, and evolving monetary policy expectations.
MarketAxess continued to hold a strong competitive position in U.S. credit trading:
| Market Segment | Estimated MKTX Market Share | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. High-Grade TRACE (incl. SD PT) | 18.5% | -0.2 percentage points |
| U.S. High-Yield TRACE (incl. SD PT) | 15.1% | +1.2 percentage points |
| U.S. Credit Portfolio Trading | 20.9% | +3.0 percentage points |
While high-grade share remained stable, high-yield market share increased significantly, reflecting the platform’s strengthening liquidity network and adoption by leveraged credit market participants.
Strategic Priority Areas Continue to Drive Growth
The company also highlighted continued growth in its Open Trading liquidity model, which provides anonymous cross-client trading. Open Trading ADV increased 15% year-over-year to $5.1 billion.
AxessIQ, a workflow integration tool that embeds trading functionality within portfolio management systems, also saw growth, increasing 2% year-over-year. This reflects increasing buy-side demand for seamless execution embedded in daily investment workflows.
The company emphasized that while electronic trading adoption continues to accelerate, its performance remains influenced by:
- Market volatility and macroeconomic conditions
- Competitive dynamics within electronic fixed-income trading
- Evolving regulatory frameworks in the U.S., EU, and U.K.
- The pace at which clients adopt new execution technologies, including AI-enabled tools and automation
MarketAxess cautioned investors that forward-looking performance depends on broader interest rate and credit market trends, as well as continued client engagement across global markets.
MarketAxess’s October 2025 trading results underscore the company’s strong competitive positioning in the global fixed-income electronic trading market. With expanding market share in key areas such as portfolio trading and high-yield credit, continued growth in emerging markets and eurobond block execution, and increasing dealer engagement in automated and session-based workflows, the company remains well-positioned to benefit from the long-term structural shift toward electronic fixed-income markets.
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